Data platforms: What they are and their role in modern data management

Highlights

You’ll learn about data platforms and why they are the backbone of modern data management.

• Efficient data organization: They centralize and structure data for seamless access
• Real-time insights: They support real-time data analysis for better decision-making
• Security & scalability: They are built to secure data and grow with business needs

Discover how data platforms streamline your data management operations.

Modern businesses rely on data, but without the right systems, it is no more than scattered numbers and text. A data platform addresses that by storing, processing and analyzing raw data to transform them into actionable insights.

A data platform supports the entire data lifecycle—making information accessible, accurate and secure. We explore data platforms, their types, benefits and why they are essential in modern data management.

What is a data platform?

Data platforms are systems that unify data into one source, making it easier to manage and analyze. They handle structured and unstructured data, automate processes and integrate more easily with other tools. They help businesses deal with fragmented databases and manual workflows.

Considering that legacy systems are built around siloed databases, a modern data platform is a superior system, relying on its cloud-native capabilities to unify, organize and make sense of large amounts of data in real-time.

What are the main components of a data platform?

Data platforms store, process, transform and prepare data for use by an organization’s external systems.

• Data Ingestion: These systems offer batch ingestion that processes large data sets at scheduled times, while real-time ingestion captures data.
• Data processing: These platforms can also clean and organize data at scale. This ensures businesses work with accurate, reliable information.
• Data transformation: They can also transform data into a formatted, clean and usable form. This removes errors and ensures that the data is consistent.
• Data analytics: They offer AI and analytics tools to track trends, while dashboards and charts simplify data, easing business decision-making.
• Data governance: Data platforms also offer features to protect sensitive data and automate data privacy and safety controls.

Once the foundation is in place, you can choose a platform that fits your needs.

Types of data platforms

A business needs to consider its data sources, business needs and long-term goals to determine what kind of data platform fits its needs. The size of the business and its industry also come into play. 

• Enterprise data platforms: These data platforms offer autoscaling and are usually available in a data lake, data lakehouse or data warehouse. These systems separate storage and computing, making them cost-effective for bulk data storage.
• Cloud-based data platforms: These platforms offer flexible storage, pay-as-you-go and auto-scaling, enabling businesses to handle spikes and drops in data demands. They can be used to house other types of data platforms.
• Big data platforms: These data platforms use distributed computing to handle huge data volumes at high speeds. Typically available as a SaaS product, they are built to handle large-scale structured, semistructured or unstructured data.
• Customer data platforms: A CDP collects and unifies customer data from multiple sources, enabling you to build clear customer profiles. CDPs improve real-time engagement, which makes them ideal for personalization and targeted marketing.

Choosing the right platform is just one step. Beyond that, the real value is how you use them to translate raw data into meaningful insights.

Benefits of modern data platforms

Modern businesses run on data, but how you manage it matters. Data storage is only one function of a well-designed data platform. It changes the way your company functions.

• Scalability: Modern platforms adjust to changing demands regardless of the size of the data. This allows businesses to expand their data needs as the business grows.
• Real-time data insight: Real-time analytics gives you minute-by-minute information. This immediate access to data translates into faster, more intelligent and data-driven decisions.
• Cost efficiency: Modern data platforms are cloud-based. They offer on-demand computing resources and auto-scaling. Hence, businesses only use just adequate resources for their needs, which reduces waste and supports high performance.
• Optimized reporting: Modern platforms come with built-in tools for real-time dashboards and reports that provide clear insights into business performance.
• Collaboration and accessibility: Modern data platforms eliminate data silos. They unify business data so your teams can access, share and act on the same data.
• Security and compliance: Modern data platforms offer built-in encryption, access controls and compliance tools. This enables you to comply with stringent data security and privacy regulations.

How businesses can use data platforms for business intelligence

A data platform feeds formatted and consistent data into BI tools for accurate and real-time analysis. It is all about data quality because, without that, you are left with incomplete data that serves no tangible purpose.

Using data platforms to support BI tools

As stated, business intelligence tools require clean and structured data for accurate analysis. With data platforms, you can integrate data from multiple sources, such as real-time streaming, ETL pipelines, etc. BI tools that use that data to generate reports, interactive dashboards and real-time insights.

How data platforms support advanced analytics

While most data tools can handle basic analytics, a data platform takes things further. It collects a wide range of data that allows you to do more advanced analytics, such as diagnostic and prescriptive analytics.

Features like AI modeling, in-memory computing and big data processing enable you to identify patterns, predict trends and recommend products and services.

Integrating with AI for predictive modeling

A data platform feeds AI models with a consistent stream of complete, accurate and formatted data. This enables predictive modeling, anomaly detection and process automation.

How to implement a data platform in your business

A data platform is only as effective as its implementation. Here are the steps to get started.

1. Assess your data needs and goals: Identify what kind of data you work with. Note the gaps that a data platform can address. Also, clarify your business goals. For instance, you may want to deliver personalized customer journeys.
2. Data Integration: Consolidate data from various sources into a unified platform, like a real-time CDP. This ensures you overcome issues like siloed data or other issues with data quality.
3. Establish data governance: Create policies to guide data access, permissions, privacy and quality control. Also, ensure that you are compliant with data privacy and safety regulations. 
4. Design scalable architecture: Design the platform with your future growth in mind. Ensure it is flexible and scalable to handle growing data volumes and evolving business needs without compromising performance.
5. Train employees and enable BI tools: Organize staff training to ensure your team becomes conversant with the data platform. Also, collaborate with your service provider for technical support and training materials.

Case studies

Land O'Lakes

After years of struggle, Land O’Lakes chose Contentstack’s real-time customer data platform to harmonize its data, enabling it to tailor content to each customer segment. This led to a CTR growth of 29% and a conversion rate growth of 38%.

Steve Rude said. "Impressions are the metric of a failed marketing campaign…If you’re not getting the conversions, it means you weren’t hitting the right audience. You may not reach a million people, but we’re going to reach the right people with the right message. And that’s where Lytics helps us."

Read on to see how Land O’Lakes increased the conversion rate after CDP implementation.

Industry Dive

Industry Dive needed a data tool for customer profiling to track the individual customer journey and personalize experiences. Contentstack's real-time CDP enables them to personalize customer journeys and increase customer engagement by 40%.

"Our editors really see the value of Lytics. They’re using it every day to shape their editorial content." Robin Re said.

Read on to see how Industry Dive increased CTR by 40% after implementing a real-time CDP.

Best practices for data management

Aside from setting up a data platform, ensure that you have the right process in place to make the most of it. Follow the best practices below for effective data management.

• Optimize real-time and batch processing
• Always prioritize data quality
• Leverage AI and machine learning for advanced analytics

FAQ section

What are modern data platforms?

Modern data platforms are cloud-based systems designed to manage, analyze and organize vast data, enabling businesses to extract insights and make decisions in real-time.

What is a data management platform?

A data management platform is a platform via which businesses get to know their customers, drive marketing and make more effective business strategies. It gathers and organizes data from different sources.

What is the purpose of a data platform?

A data platform centralizes data management, ensures data is accessible and supports advanced analytics. It helps maintain data quality and consistency, as well as supporting compliance with data safety and security standards.

How do data platforms support business intelligence (BI)?

Data platforms centralize data to enable real-time data processing and complex analytics. When integrated with BI tools, they support BI reporting and dashboard analysis.

Learn more

A modern data platform enables businesses to manage their entire data lifecycle, from ingestion and storage to processing and analysis. This powers real-time decision-making, advanced analysis and strategic planning. 

If your option is between a data platform and a data warehouse, a data platform is more suitable as it combines the functionalities of a data warehouse and other tools like a data lake. For real-time customer data analytics and personalization, you can always opt for a customer data platform.

Contentstack offers a real-time CDP that allows you to activate customer data to drive real-time engagement. Talk to us today to get started.